The Heirs Of Proteus
by Admiral
Summary: While Enterprise is away, the Science Department makes a frightening discovery.
1. Teaser

**DISCLAIMER: **For some reason the edit function keeps cutting off my detailed disclaimer, so I don't own Trek and it don't own me.

**STAR TREK:**

**THE HEIRS OF PROTEUS**

**By Darrin Colbourne**

* * *

Gwendolyn Flores woke from a fitful sleep to find herself alone in the shelter. Isabel Montoya's cot was empty. The covers were undone, but Flores wondered if her friend had gotten any sleep at all. They had both been up late the previous night organizing the extra supplies and the Landers sent down by Captain Pike before the _Enterprise_ left the Ceres system, so Flores would have expected her friend to be just as tired as she had been, but she supposed worry over _Independence_ had kept her awake.

Flores got up, slipped on her uniform pants and undershirt and took a step out of the shelter. She found Montoya after a few seconds of looking around the camp. The Science Officer was sitting on a small rise at the southern edge of the encampment. It was a good place to watch the sunrise, but Montoya's body language showed that she had more on her mind than seeing Ceres come up over the horizon.

Flores hiked over to the rise and sat down beside Montoya. "Hey," she said, "did you get any sleep at all last night?"

Montoya didn't say anything. She just continued to sit with her arms around her knees and staring off into space.

Flores took a moment to examine Montoya's face. It looked like she'd been crying. Flores moved closer and put her hand on Montoya's arm. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Montoya simply handed Flores the datapad she'd been holding. Flores hadn't noticed it before then. She took it and began reading the text message being displayed. "That came early this morning," Montoya said. "It's a copy of the report the captain sent back to Earth."

Flores's face fell as she read. "Lost with all hands?"

Montoya nodded. "Everyone aboard _Independence_ was killed, and one of _Enterprise_'s transports was destroyed during the search. No survivors. Pike sent me a separate message saying they'd stay in Menos Corva to investigate what happened and to assist in recovery of the crews' bodies."

Flores just stared at Montoya for a moment, then she rested the 'pad carefully on the ground, then she matched Montoya's pose. "What do you want to do?"

Montoya turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"We have to have some kind of memorial service. I know we don't have much to work with here, but we should do something…"

Montoya thought about it for a moment, then turned back to the horizon. "I'm sure Starfleet will take care of that for them."

"Well, of course they'll do something more formal, but we…"

"I'm not even sure I want to tell anyone else what happened."

Flores was stunned. "Belle, we have to tell the others…"

"No we don't. It's the military, isn't it? Everything is on a need-to-know basis. I don't think this is something the others need to know."

"I…don't think that's exactly how that works."

"Well, that's how it will work for now." Montoya grabbed the datapad and abruptly stood up. "The best way to honor the memory of Ai Mizuki and the others is to continue the work we're out here to do, and we can do that without the others knowing about _Independence_."

"Sure we can, but _should_ we?"

"Better the others think there's hope for _Independence_ than to have them try to work while in mourning. It's a morale thing. An officer has to keep up her subordinates' morale, doesn't she?"

"Oh, that's just so much bullsh--!"

"It's my _decision_, Wendy! We won't tell anyone else for now. _Enterprise_ will be back for us soon. We can tell them when we're ready to leave." With that she turned to leave.

Flores watched Montoya as she walked back toward the camp, stunned at her friend's transformation. She had never known Montoya to be so cold. _What has being on this mission done to you, Belle?_ she thought.

* * *

She was still thinking about it an hour or so later when she and Montoya were getting ready to explore the cave she had discovered. They were standing by the transport with its flight crew, Lieutenant (j.g.) Arabella Girardi and Ensign Mira Kryczyk, the commander of the Lander squad, Sergeant Daniel Rice, and Ben Goren. Flores had her own datapad out and was giving everyone a briefing on the cave. "It's huge. The entrance alone is about as wide as the Hangar Deck, but the really interesting thing is the way the native life forms react to it. We've catalogued at least seven different species of bird and dozens of different species of land animals that are native to this region, but all of them seem to be terrified of whatever's inside the cave. I've yet to see one animal go into it, and _nothing _has come out of it since we started observing it." 

"There's gotta be some kind of predator in there," Sgt. Rice said.

"But what kind? And why doesn't it make any noise? And if it doesn't come out to hunt and none of the other animals are brave enough to venture inside, how does it eat?"

"Maybe there's an animal that goes in that we can't see," Goren said, "like a burrowing rodent that enters from underground inside the cave. Rodent pops out of its hole and its dinnertime."

"That'd make it kind of a stupid rodent, wouldn't it?" Lt. Girardi said.

"Not necessarily stupid," Flores said. "Maybe just desperate. There might be something else in the cave that the rodent needs, like a source of water or a smaller prey animal that lives symbiotically with the main predator. The point is we'll never know without taking a look inside ourselves, and doing that presents a few problems. There's no way to get to it on foot. The cave rests at the top of a rocky outcropping with sheer sides. The quickest and easiest way to get to it is by aircraft."

"I guess that's where we come in," Ens. Kryczyk said.

"That's right," Montoya said. "We'll fly up to the mouth of the cave and use instruments to try and get a look at what's inside, then if that doesn't work we'll go in."

"You sure that's a good idea, Commander?" Rice said. "If everything else on this planet is afraid of what's in there…"

Montoya sighed. "We don't know that _everything_ on the planet is afraid of it."

"No, Sir, but we do know a whole bunch of things are, and I think it would be prudent for us to respect that and act accordingly."

"He's got a point, Belle," Flores said.

Montoya turned to her. "Do you want to know what's in there or not?"

"Of course I do, but I don't want to die finding out."

"No one is going to die! You said yourself the cave is as big as the hangar deck, so if we can't see anything we can just fly into it and make closer observations from inside the transport."

Girardi raised her hand. "Um, Sir, precision-flying a Workhorse inside a cave is not something I've trained to do."

"You fly it into and out of the ship all the time."

"Yes, Sir, with help from the ship's landing guidance system, and the flight deck is a lot more regularly shaped than a cave would be. This is bound to be more difficult. Even if we can nose into the entrance, there's likely to be parts of the cave that we can't get into."

"So we won't go into those parts."

"What if what you're looking for lives in those parts?" Rice said.

"Sergeant, I expect that the noise of the transport's engines will draw the predator out long before we even have to think about going into the cave."

Rice raised his hands. "Hey, you're the scientist! I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying that on the off chance you're wrong there's a more prudent way to go about tracking the thing down. If we have to go in on foot, why don't you let me and a couple of my boys do it?"

Montoya shook her head. "No! That won't be necessary."

"Wait a minute, Isabel," Goren said, "that's not a bad idea."

She glared at him. "I'm not trying to hunt the creature down! I just want to see it!"

"Might as well do it safely, Commander," Rice said, keeping his tone as even as possible. "The way you're planning to do it right now, with you and both the lieutenants going in with no back up, it puts the local chain of command seriously at risk. I really think you're better off sending someone more expendable…"

The last word set Montoya off. "Dammit, _no one_ is expendable! I will _not_ take any course of action that's based on the assumption that I'm more valuable than someone else! Not while I have the last word! Is that clear?"

Rice straightened up and looked her in the eye. "Yes, _Sir!_ As crystal, Sir!"

Montoya glared at him, then huffed, "I'm going to that cave, Sergeant! This is my survey and I'll conduct it the way I see fit! If you're so worried about the chain of command, then fine. Wendy and Ben will stay here." Flores was about to protest then, but Montoya beat her to the punch. "Just this first time, Wendy. Once I get a look at what's in there I'll leave it up to you to do an extensive study of it. It's just so that the three of us are not all there at once, okay?"

Flores didn't look placated at all, but she managed a reluctant nod.

Rice still had reservations. "Sir, how about taking one of my guys with you…just in case?"

Montoya sighed. "Do you want to come, Sergeant?"

Rice shrugged and smiled. "It's a nice day…and I got nothing better to do."

Montoya threw up her hands. "Fine. Great. They'll stay, we'll go, everybody's happy, right? Let's go."

Goren and Flores watched as the flight crew, Montoya and Rice boarded the transport and took off. When they were airborne, Goren turned to Flores and said, "What's wrong with the Boss this morning?"

Flores grimaced as she watched the transport recede in the distance. "I wish I could tell you," she muttered.


	2. Segment One

STAR TREK:

THE HEIRS OF PROTEUS

By Darrin Colbourne

* * *

It only took about a minute after take-off for the transport to reach the cave. Montoya felt every second pass. She spent most of the time just staring straight ahead, but she did glance over at Sgt. Rice a couple of times. The Lander simply sat in the passenger seat across the aisle from her, waiting patiently for the ship to get where they were going. He didn't look at her at all during the flight, and Montoya couldn't tell if it was a deliberate snub or if he simply saw no reason to look at her in transit. She hated not knowing, hated not being able to read the military mind after spending so many months among soldiers and pilots. The lack of empathy just made her job harder, because it made the Starfleeters unpredictable, and their unpredictability tended to lead to situations like what happened at Bajor, or over Shiva Three, and it was probably what led to _Independence_'s destruction, regardless of what Captain Pike said in his official report…

Lt. Girardi's voice broke into Montoya's thoughts. "Sir, we're here!"

Montoya waited until the pilot brought the transport into a hover before getting out of her seat and poking her head into the flight deck. The cave was visible just beyond the cockpit glass. "Can you nose into the cave a little?"

"Sure," Girardi said. She hoped the deep breath she took before edging the ship into the cave entrance wasn't too obvious. Still, the entrance did look big enough for the ship to fit, but Girardi was still relieved when she didn't hear any scraping noises as they passed the threshold. "Mira, hit the floods," she said as she went into hover again.

"Got 'em," Kryczyk said. Lights in the transport's nose illuminated the interior of the cave. The three women spent a minute or two staring into it. "There's nothing there but cave."

"I see something," Girardi said. "Toward the back. See that glimmer? Looks like water."

Montoya stretched a little to see if she could spot what the pilot was talking about. She did see a glimmer, as if the floodlights were reflecting off a pool. After a moment she backed off a little, then checked her pants pockets to make sure she remembered to bring a flashlight. "Can you turn us around so the main hatch is on the inside?"

A minute later the loading ramp was down and Montoya and Rice were entering the cave. Rice had wanted to take point, but Montoya wouldn't hear of it. She insisted that there was no danger. "Look at this," she said, aiming her flashlight around the cave. "There's nothing here. There are no other tunnels or burrows, no other place for an animal to hide, and the back is taken up mostly by a pool of water." She aimed her flashlight that way. The light made the surface of the water sparkle as if it were a freshwater pond.

"Okay," Rice said as he aimed his own light around, "stupid question number one: what if the animal the others are afraid of lives _in_ the water?"

"It would have to be amphibious to be a threat to the other animals, which means we would have seen it by now." With that, Montoya started heading for the water.

Rice didn't like it. All he could think about was that they were on an alien planet with nothing but their Work Colors and his Childress between them and whatever might be ready to pounce on them. Of course, Commander Montoya seemed confident that they were safe, but an NCO's job often involved protecting officers from themselves, so he kept trying. "Okay, stupid question number two: if there's nothing in the water to scare away the other animals…"

"…could they be afraid of the water itself?" Montoya finished for him. "Absolutely, if it were tainted or poisoned somehow. I think this cave is some kind of natural well, but the water is contaminated. The animals may sense the contaminates in the water in ways that we can't." A second later she was standing at the edge of the pool. It certainly looked like a freshwater pond. The water sparkled and was clear enough to see the sides of the well it was in for a few feet, before the rocky features gave way to total darkness. She aimed her light into the water. All it did was give her a view of more of the sides. She smiled. "See? There's nothing in here but water."

Rice, who was now standing beside her, aimed his light into the water. After a second, he said, "Okay, stupid question number three…"

Montoya cut him off with a raised hand and a groan. "Sergeant, could we possibly table this riveting discussion for the two seconds it will take me to gather a sample of the water so we can get back to camp?"

Rice raised his hands in surrender. "Yes, Sir. Not a problem," he said with a smile.

Montoya just shook her head and turned back to the pool. As she stared at it she felt around in her pockets until she found a small vial, then she crouched down and stretched the open vial out over the water and tried to scoop some of it out.

She was unsuccessful. The water under her hand sunk below surface of the pool just as the vial reached it.

Montoya blinked, then checked her hand and the vial, then stared at the water some more. She tried again. The water dodged the vial the same way.

Rice was utterly confused. "Did that water just…?"

Montoya put the vial away. "Do you have a stylus?" She asked Rice. Her eyes never left the water. She simply reached out her hand and waited until Rice put a stylus in it, then she got a firm grip on it, and with the swiftest motion she could manage she thrust it into the water. The stylus penetrated the surface, and Montoya slid the writing tool around for a second before removing it. It came out completely dry.

Montoya and Rice stared at the stylus. "That's impossible, right?" Rice said.

"It is if this just water," Montoya said.

So intent were they on the stylus that neither Commander nor Sergeant noticed the thin pillar of water rising from the surface of the water until it struck with the speed of a cobra! It took on the shape of lance just microseconds before it speared Montoya through the midsection! Montoya could only gasp as the watery lance withdrew, leaving her to spurt blood on the ground of the cave.

"Commander!" Rice called out as he drew his sidearm. He tracked the pillar of water as it backed off, then started firing as it seemed to notice him and form another lance. The lightning-crack sound of the Childress filled the cave four times before the particle weapon met with any success. The last shot rattled the pillar, causing it to break down into droplets and collapse back into the pool.

With the threat down, Rice turned his attention back to Montoya. "We gotta go now, Commander!" He cursed when he saw that Montoya had collapsed. She was still conscious, but she was losing blood fast and he could tell she was in excruciating pain. Rice holstered his weapon and moved to carry her back to the transport.

The pillar of water reappeared as he turned and struck again. Rice screamed and cursed as the spear went through his right shoulder, rendering his right arm useless. He used his left arm to get out his radio and activate it. "Rice to Hauler! Mayday! Mayday! We're under attack! The Commander is down and I'm wounded!" As he said that more pillars emerged from the water. "We need assistance, ASAP!" He put the communicator away and started to try and drag Montoya away from the pool with his good arm. He only got a few steps before another watery spear went through his right leg.

Ensign Kryczyk came running up then, sidearm drawn. She gasped when she saw the tendrils reaching out of the water, then gulped as she took aim.

"No!" Rice called out. "Help me get Montoya back to the ship!"

Kryczyk hesitated, then holstered her weapon and ran over to help Rice get Montoya to her feet. Rice could barely move on his own, but he fought through the pain, knowing the diminutive pilot couldn't possibly carry them both back to the transport. Every step was its own endurance test, so Rice was secretly glad when he set foot on the end of the loading ramp.

His joy was short-lived. Just as he stepped aboard another watery spear went through his midsection from behind. It wasn't until after he and Montoya collapsed in a heap on the cargo deck that he noticed Kryczyk had been speared as well, only the attack had gone through her heart.

"Mira!!" Someone screamed. Rice looked forward. It was Girardi.

"Just go!" Rice screamed at her. "Just button up and freakin' _go!_"

Girardi didn't wait for an explanation. She turned and headed back into the cockpit as Rice did his best to get Montoya clear of the closing hatch. He was in agony every second, but he made it. He started to fade as he turned back for Kryczyk, but before he could reach her more water tendrils wrapped around her and pulled her out of the departing craft, then as Rice finally collapsed he felt impacts on the hull, as if the water were trying to stab _it_ to death before it got away.

* * *

Back in the cave, the tendrils drew Ensign Mira Kryczyk's body with them as they receded back into the pool. She sank immediately once she was beneath the surface, falling deeper and deeper into the water until she was lost in the darkness below.

* * *

The trip back to camp took even less time than the trip to the cave. Girardi radioed back to camp as she flew, telling them to be ready to receive wounded. It was all she had time to say before it was time to land. Flores, Goren and two Landers trained in first aid were waiting in the landing zone. They rushed up as the ship settled and the loading ramp came down. 

Flores rushed up the ramp. "What's happening?" She said to no one in particular, then her eyes went wide when she saw the people laying in the pool of blood on the deck. "Oh my god…Belle!" She went to her friend immediately and checked her vitals, then she checked Sgt. Rice. She went back to Montoya as the Landers with her broke out their med kits. "They're both still alive, but they're out from blood loss. We don't have much time. Let's get to work."

Ben Goren knew he'd be useless while the others worked on Rice and Montoya, so he stayed outside and waited patiently until they were done. As he waited he did a quick walkaround. He was surprised to find the transport had taken real damage. There were punctures in the outer hull toward the rear of the craft. He wanted to know if the pilot had gotten any warning in the cockpit, but asking her now would require going back into the transport and trying to get past Flores and the others, so he held his questions for the moment, deciding instead to try to work out what might have been damaged from what he knew about Workhorses.

Flores poked her head out of the ship after what seemed like a short time. "Can you give us a hand?" She called out. Goren trotted back in and saw that the Landers had stretchers laid out. "Help me with Belle," Flores said as she grabbed Montoya under the shoulders. Goren grabbed Montoya's feet. "On three," Flores said, "gently. One, two, three!" They got Montoya onto one of the stretchers. At the same time the Landers got their sergeant onto the other one, then everyone worked to get the stretchers into their proper recesses in the walls of the ship. Flores checked their work, then said a quick prayer over Montoya before she spoke again to Goren. "Their wounds are serious, but not necessarily life-threatening. We've done what we can to patch them up and stop the bleeding, but they're both in trouble until we can get them to Sick Bay. They both need transfusions and organ regeneration treatments that we don't have the resources to do here."

"We gotta call _Enterprise_," Goren said, stating the obvious.

"We can't," Flores said.

"Why not?"

"I don't know 'why not'. That's all she would say." Flores pointed to the stairs as she said that. Girardi was standing there, looking on the whole scene in horror.

Goren turned to the pilot. "Do you know how much damage you took out there?"

Girardi nodded. "It attacked us. It attacked the ship."

"What attacked the ship?" Flores asked.

"The water," Girardi said. "The water attacked the ship."

Flores frowned. "What do you mean 'the water attacked the ship'? _What_ water?"

Girardi's voice became slightly more frantic. "The water in the cave! The water attacked the others and attacked the ship! And it killed Mira!"

Flores and Goren glanced at each other, then turned back to Girardi. "You mean Ensign Kryczyk? Where is she?" Goren asked.

"Was she in the cockpit with you?" Flores asked.

"No…"Girardi said, voice shaking, "I thought you'd be working on her when I came down, but she's not here…and that thing went through her heart…it must have taken her…the water must have taken her…" She began to break down into sobs.

Flores went over to her. "Hey, easy," she said, "take it easy. Look, I understand how you feel…"

"No you don't!" Girardi yelled. "You just _saved_ your best friend! Mine didn't have a chance!"

Flores and Goren could only stare wide-eyed for a moment, then Goren said "Okay…I'm gonna go get Connie." He turned and rushed out of the transport right after.

Flores turned back to Girardi. "All right, listen to me…I _haven't _saved my best friend or Sgt. Rice yet. They both need to get back to the ship, right now, or they are going to die anyway. That means we have to call the _Enterprise_. You said we can't. Why can't we?"

Girardi stared, then it looked like she was fighting to regain control of herself, "Can't…we can't…" She closed her eyes. "There were warning lights…one of them was the transceiver…something knocked out the subspace radio…"

"We need subspace radio to talk to a ship in another system," Flores prompted.

Girardi nodded. "That's right…we only have short-range communication right now…"

"Okay, what about our field radios and datapads?"

Girardi shook her head. "They can receive subspace signals, but they're not powerful enough to transmit to another system without a dedicated relay."

Flores lowered her head and cursed. When she straightened up: "Fine. Forget calling Enterprise. That just means you'll have to fly us to the ship yourself. Can you do that?"

Girardi opened her eyes and nodded. "Yes. Yes I can."

"One of those warning lights wasn't for the Warp engines, was it?"

Girardi closed her eyes again. "I…don't think so." She opened her eyes. "I'll do a walkaround before I take off, just to be sure."

"Okay, why don't you take care of that right now?"

Girardi nodded and stepped into the cargo area. She tried not to look at Montoya and Rice as she stepped past them and headed for the loading ramp. There she was intercepted by Goren and a dark-skinned female lieutenant in Work Blue. This was Constance Price, researcher and resident psychologist. "Where are you going?" Goren asked.

"I'm going to do a walkaround," Girardi said. Her voice still sounded shaky despite her best efforts. "I have to fly the others back to the ship."

Price offered Girardi her friendliest smile as she said. "Why don't you let me come with you? We can talk while you look, okay?"

Girardi gave her a confused look, then glanced back at Flores before answering. "Okay, but we have to hurry."

"Sure," Price said. The two women left the ship together.

Goren approached Flores after they left. "What did she mean? Did you manage to call the ship?"

Flores shook her head. "She said the subspace radio was knocked out."

Goren did a quick mental inventory of the damage he saw. "Damn! She's right! The ship is hulled near the main processing system, so maybe…wait, so _Enterprise_ isn't going to be in orbit soon? So how is she going to fly anybody to her?"

Flores shrugged. "How else? The shuttle's warp-capable."

Goren thought a moment, then grimaced. "Not right now, it isn't."

He turned and ran out of the transport. Flores, unsure of what else to do, followed him. Soon they found themselves standing next to Girardi and Price as they stared at a huge dent in the left side of the spacecraft. Girardi seemed more distraught than ever.

Goren pointed at the dent. "That," he said to Flores, "is where the number one engine's electromagnetic attractor is, and judging by how far in the dent goes I'd say it's split in half right now. And on the other side of the ship there's a nice big hole where number two's number one Casimir Drive used to be."

Flores glared at him. "Ben, pick a language I understand."

Goren glared back. "If you try to take this thing to Warp as is the CasDrives in engine one will have no place to channel the necessary energy properly, so the engine will explode and take the ship with it. If you shut engine one down and try to run on just engine two the ship won't have anywhere near enough power to reach _Enterprise_ in just one jump."

"Fine, so it takes a few jumps. What's the difference?"

"Time. Given the number of jumps and the number of times the engine will have to cool and reset…look, it'd just be a lot faster if we could call _Enterprise_ now and get them to come back."

Flores gave him an incredulous look, then she looked livid as she turned to Girardi. "You said there was nothing wrong with the Warp engines!"

Girardi crouched down and began to sob. "I'm sorry! I didn't know…didn't think…"

"Okay," Price said as she got real close to Flores. "Wendy, look, the stuff about the warp engines doesn't matter right now. I don't know all the details, but I do know that she just lost her best friend and colleague and she is _not_ dealing with it well right now. The last thing she should be doing for a while is getting back in the cockpit, intact ship or not."

"_My _best friend needs her to, Connie!" Flores hissed through her teeth.

Price put a hand on her shoulder. "Then give me a chance to settle her down, and you and I will talk." With that, Price moved off to comfort Girardi.

Goren got close to Flores. "Look, Wendy, bottom line is this thing's not going anywhere but orbit and near space in this condition. If we can't contact the ship we're stuck here until she returns."

"Yeah, I got that," Flores said. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, we gotta do something. You said yourself that Isabel and Rice don't have a lot of time…"

"Ben, why do you _insist_ on telling me stuff I already know?"

"So you can tell me what you want to do about it."

"Why does what I want matter?"

"Because you're in charge."

Flores shook her head. "Excuse me?"

"With Isabel out of commission you're the ranking officer. You're in charge."

Flores threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't _want_ to be in charge! I just want to get Belle to Doctor Boyce so he can finish what I started! _You_ be in charge!"

Goren shook his head. "Doesn't work that way. This is a Science mission and you're the department XO, _and_ we're facing a very real threat. You can't just decide not to be in charge."

"Well, if it's a _military _threat, shouldn't one of the Starfleeters be in charge anyway?"

Goren crossed his arms. "You really want to go there? Okay, fine. Right now there isn't a single Starfleet officer on this planet with a rank higher than lieutenant, and the Starfleeter with the most seniority is _Girardi_. Do you _really_ want her making the decisions right now?"

Flores's defiant stance melted as she thought about that, then she turned away from Goren and closed her eyes. "Can you fix the warp engines on this thing?"

"Not without tools and replacement parts I can only get aboard _Enterprise_."

"And you're sure it couldn't reach _Enterprise_ without the repairs?"

Goren thought about it. "They're supposed to be searching for _Independence_ at her last known coordinates, right? What was it…the Woden system?"

Flores turned to him. "Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, from here to Woden on one engine less one CasDrive…it would take about sixteen jumps…"

"Sixteen?!"

"That's the optimum number. The real number will depend on how far it actually manages to get with each jump and whether or not the rest of the engine burns out before it gets there. And it's a moot point if _Enterprise_ isn't there."

"Why wouldn't it be there?"

Goren shrugged. "If they didn't find anything in Woden they'd move on, probably to a system that the transport couldn't reach before its engine burned out. Have we heard anything from them since last night?"

He wasn't sure, but Goren could swear he'd never seen Flores blanche as quickly as she did when he asked her that. She just stared at him in what looked like shock, then she managed to regain part of her composure after a few seconds. "Can you fix the subspace radio?"

Goren looked at the transport. "Don't know yet, but it's almost guaranteed I'll have better luck with the radio than I will with the engines. I need to get into its guts and see exactly what's wrong."

"Get started. We'll talk while you work. _Enterprise_ isn't in Woden anymore."

* * *

Ten minutes later, everyone in the shore party was gathered around the transport as Flores laid out the situation. "That's what's happening," she concluded. "Now we need options. We have to get Isabel and Sergeant Rice back to the _Enterprise_ and we have to figure out what did all this damage in the first place, and whether this was a one time thing or if it will be a continuing threat. Any ideas?" 

Jim Greenfield raised his hand first. "You're saying there's absolutely no way we can reach _Enterprise_ via subspace?"

"No way," Goren said. "Not only was the transceiver antennae damaged, the signal processing system was ripped apart. Until that's repaired, even if we had a functioning subspace antennae all we'd be able to send is gibberish."

"Well, then there are no options. We have to stay here until the ship gets back."

"We have to stay in the _system_," someone else said, "but do we have to stay _here_? Can't we just all pile in to the shuttle and go somewhere else?"

"Where would we go?" Flores asked.

"Another continent, one of the moons…who cares, as long as it's someplace that whatever's in the cave can't reach us."

"It would be a tight fit," Goren said. "The transport's designed to carry 22 people total under the best conditions. There's more of us now, and with the stretchers mounted and the ship damaged it becomes more 'iffy.' We wouldn't be able to take all that much in the way of supplies with us."

"We don't need to take everything. Just enough emergency rations to keep us going until the ship gets back from Menos Corva."

"But when will that be?" Price asked. "A day? Two? How will we know how much to take with us if we don't know how long they'll be?"

"It depends on the hospital ships," a weak voice said. It was Girardi. "They have to recover the bodies of _Independence_'s crew and arrange to take them home. For that they need a dedicated hospital ship, so how long they'll be depends on when one of the hospital ships is available."

Flores shook her head. "It's probably not a good idea to leave camp anyway. When _Enterprise_ comes looking for us, this will be where they'll expect to find us. We have sufficient food and water for another couple of days, and there are natural food and water sources all around us. We're better off staying here than we are tearing off in a damaged, over-packed shuttle."

"Not by much," someone else said. "What if the thing in the cave decides it's tired of hiding and comes down to finish what it started?"

"Look, this isn't a horror movie," Flores said. "The life-form in the cave, whatever it is, is just some kind of animal. Its home was invaded, so it defended itself. Let's not assume there's some kind of vengeful intelligence motivating it. Chances are if we leave it alone from now on, it will leave us alone."

One of the Landers spoke up then. "How can we be sure of that, Lieutenant?"

Flores shrugged. "Everything else in this region gives it a wide berth, and we haven't seen it go out of its way to attack the other animals since we've been here. Look, we did a typically human thing. We stuck our noses where they didn't belong and got them bloodied. Okay, so we learn the lesson and stay out of the thing's way. Maybe it accepts that and stays home. If it doesn't, well, we have a better chance of defending ourselves in our camp than anywhere else, right?" The Lander nodded. "All right. Our priority should be Isabel and Sergeant Rice. I want to keep watch on them round-the-clock, so I need the help of everybody here who's had any kind of medical training. I want everybody else to start packing up the camp. Start with the most essential equipment. We should be ready to leave as soon as _Enterprise_ hits orbit. Ben, can the transport broadcast some kind of distress signal?"

"Sure," Goren said, "but it won't make it out of the system in time to matter."

"It won't have to. _Enterprise_ will pick it up as soon as she warps in and will know she has to find us and get us out fast."

Goren nodded. "I'll get on that right away."

"Good. The rest of us better get to work as well." The gathering broke up then. Price and the two Landers that helped her before approached Flores to talk about how they would take care of Montoya and Rice, while Goren and Girardi went into the transport to activate the ship's distress beacon and the rest of the shore party returned to the main part of the camp to prepare for departure.

* * *

Meanwhile, the water in the cave surged out of its well and began to flow toward the cave opening. Once there it continued on until it started to cascade to the valley below in thin rivers. The water pooled wherever it touched the ground. In seconds, the pools began to swell into different shapes and change color. One of them turned into a brightly colored bird of a species common to the area. Two more turned into canine-like six-legged animals with jet black fur. Another turned into a long, sinewy serpent, with colors and markings that would allow it to blend into the surrounding environment. 

The last pool, the largest, swelled more and more until it began to take the shape of an animal that had only recently entered the region. It stood on two legs, had a slim, slight musculature, claws and teeth wholly unsuited for life in the wild, and hair only in certain regions of its body. When it was fully formed it looked down at itself in wonder, marveling at the strange, pink coloration of its skin, the smallish mammary glands that adorned its chest, the seemingly useless patch of black hair by its genitalia, and just the general oddness of the primate it had become. It decided that a creature like this couldn't possibly last very long in a world as harsh as the one they were in…but it didn't have to. It only had to last long enough to allow the other, similar creatures, The Invaders, to be observed in secret.

And, if necessary, to be dealt with once and for all.

The water stopped flowing from the cave as the bird, the canines, the serpent and the life-form in the guise of Ensign Mira Kryczyk started off for the Invaders' camp.


	3. Segment Two

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE HEIRS OF PROTEUS

By Darrin Colbourne

* * *

For the rest of the day the shore party's main concerns were keeping Isabel Montoya and Sergeant Rice alive and packing for departure. Flores had decided to suspend all scheduled experiments and exploration in light of the crisis. As the scientists worked, the Landers not involved with medical duties set up a defensive perimeter around the camp and the transport landing zone. As the Landers worked, one of them spotted a brightly-colored bird gliding lazily in the air above them. They couldn't know that the bird was watching their every move, marking where they set up any traps or defensive weapons. When they were done and began regular patrolling, one of the Landers spotted what looked like a six-legged wolf on the crest of the nearby hill. The animal turned and ran away once it was spotted, but the Lander had to admit it had spooked him. Through all of this, no one noticed the camouflaged serpent that snuck onto the campground from the edge of a nearby stand of trees.

It was early evening before an exhausted Gwendolyn Flores was relieved in the transport by Connie Price. She gave Montoya a quick kiss goodbye, then made her way back to camp and trudged into her tent. She found Arabella Girardi sitting with her knees to her chest on Montoya's bunk. "How are you doing?" Flores asked as she sat on her own bunk.

"Better," Girardi said with a weak smile. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

Flores smiled and shrugged. "Right now it's the only spare bed in camp. It might as well be used, and I can't ask you to sleep in the ship again, under the circumstances."

Girardi nodded. "How are the Commander and the Sergeant doing?"

"They'll be fine," Flores said, a little too quickly. She knew that the supplies of plasma they'd brought with them in first aid kits were running out, so it might come down to transfusing blood from the available donors in the shore party, under conditions that were far from pristine, and that might invite infection from alien sources that they were ill-equipped to fight. She thought the situation couldn't get more dire, but there was no point in telling Girardi that. "At least they're not getting worse. They're both resting comfortably."

Girardi bowed her head. "I'm sorry for cracking up like that before." She looked up at Flores. "It's just…you don't know how close Mira and I are…were…"

"I think I can guess," Flores said. "You two were probably in the same class at the Academy, right?"

Girardi's eyebrow went up. "The Academy? Oh, no! You've gotta have a rich daddy or some other connections to get into Starfleet Academy. I wanted to go, but I could never get a legislative sponsor. No, Mira and I met when my family moved into her neighborhood in Warsaw. We went to high school together. She never wanted to go to the Academy. She thought it was too much crap to go through for what was essentially four years of college. So when we graduated we enlisted together, went through Basic, qualified for Officer Candidate School and got our commissions in eighteen months instead of four years. Then we both entered Space Warfare School…"

"…and here you are," Flores said, cutting the story short.

"Yeah," Girardi said with a nervous chuckle, "here we are."

"You must have considered it lucky to be assigned to the same flight crew as your friend."

Girardi shrugged. "I like to _think_ it was luck, but sometimes I suspect it was Starfleet's way of keeping a couple of screw-ups from contaminating too much of the Fleet."

They chuckled at that, but just as Flores was about to say something else her field radio chirped. "Tupolev to Flores," a disembodied voice said.

Flores hunted through her pockets for the radio. Tupolev was one of the Landers currently on guard duty. "Flores here. Go ahead."

"Lieutenant, I've got someone approaching my position."

"Can you tell who it is?"

There was a pause. "That's the strange part…"

* * *

Minutes later, Flores and Girardi were waiting outside the tent for Tupolev to escort the visitor back to camp. As they got close to the tent, Flores could see that the burly soldier had given his Work Green shirt to the visitor to wear. The garment hung from her shoulders like a nightshirt, but even with that Flores could tell she was naked underneath. She certainly looked human, but neither Flores nor Girardi could believe who Tupolev had said she was until she got close enough for them to see her face.

After that, Girardi harbored no doubts. "Mira!" She screamed as she broke into a run. She intercepted the woman a few meters from the tent and caught her in a bear hug. "It's really you," Girardi sobbed in Mira's ear.

Flores approached as she watched Girardi make a scene. It seemed like Girardi's best friend was confused. She simply stood there for a few seconds without hugging Girardi back, then when she finally reciprocated the hug was tentative, experimental.

Girardi didn't care. "Don't you _ever_ scare me like that again, you bitch!" She said when they pulled back to arms length. "I missed you so much!" Girardi tried to keep her face stern, but a second later she broke into a wide grin. "I can't stay mad at you! It's so good to see you safe and sound!"

Mira grinned back - or, at least, she tried to. It seemed as if she were unfamiliar with the action, or worried what might happen to her face if she tried it. Flores found it odd. Girardi simply pulled Mira back into the hug. "Hey, Girardi?" Flores said. "Why don't we take her inside and let her sit down?"

Girardi glanced at Flores, then turned her attention back to her friend. "Right. She's right. Let's go inside. You have to tell us how you escaped!" Girardi took Mira's hands and dragged her toward the tent. The other woman followed obediently, if somewhat reluctantly.

Flores looked on in mild confusion, Tupolev did so in total confusion. "You better return to your post," Flores said to him without turning. "Let me know if you see any other strange visitors."

"Yes, Sir," Tupolev muttered before turning heading back out.

Flores went back into the tent and found Girardi and Mira sitting together on Montoya's cot. In the light of the tent's camping lamp Flores examined Mira by eye. There didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with the woman. She just seemed…detached. She was looking around the tent as if she'd never seen one before, and she seemed nervous with Girardi's hand holding hers in a gentle but unwavering grip. "…and I could _swear_ I saw that thing go through your heart!" Girardi was saying to her. "You've _got_ to tell me what happened, Mira! Where did that thing take you? How did you heal so quickly?" She paused with this question and frowned. "She's not talking," she said. She turned Flores. "Why won't she talk?"

Flores came closer. "She may be in shock. There may be some memory loss. Why don't you let me give her a quick examination, just to make sure she's okay?"

Girardi tightened her grip on Mira's hand. "You won't hurt her?"

"Of course not. I just want a quick look at her. She won't feel a thing."

Girardi hesitated before letting Mira go and sliding a few inches down the cot. Mira watched her go, but made no other move before Flores kneeled before her, then she turned to look Flores in the eye.

Flores put on her friendliest smile. "Hi," she said, "you remember me, right? Lieutenant Flores?"

Mira smiled back, more confidently this time, but it still looked as if she wasn't sure of the purpose of the action.

"Right," Flores said as her smile melted. She found a small flashlight and aimed it into Mira's eyes. What she found there made her raise an eyebrow. She lowered the flashlight and held a finger up to Mira's face. "Follow this with your eyes," she said, and moved the finger back and forth. Mira turned her head to follow it, but her eyes were aimed toward the finger.

Flores lowered her hand and got up. "Stay here," she said to Mira, then she hunted around until she found a stethoscope. She returned to Mira and put the lead to her chest, adjusting the audio pickup until she could hear Mira's heartbeat through the shirt. What she heard made her stare at Mira in shock.

Flores put the stethoscope down and grabbed her radio. "Flores to Price."

"Price here," Price's voice said.

"Connie, scavenge the med-kits and see if you can scrounge up a spare syringe and some vials. I need to take some blood samples."

"From whom?" Connie said. "I'm right here, so I can get the samples for you…"

"Not from them," Flores said, looking pointedly at Mira. "Just bring the syringe to me. Flores out."

Girardi raised her hand a little. "Um, just so you know, Mira doesn't like needles."

"I'm sure she doesn't," Flores said as she flashed Mira another grin, "and I'm pretty sure she has no idea what I'm planning to do."

* * *

Some time later, Ben Goren was awakened from a sound sleep by the sensation of someone shaking his shoulder. He rolled over and saw Flores standing over him. "What?" he said, exasperated.

"I need to talk, Belle isn't available, so you're elected!" Flores said.

Goren stared at her for a second, then did his best to sit up. He managed to prop himself up on one elbow. He used his free hand to rub his eyes. "Okay…so what are we talking about?"

"Guess who decided to rejoin the shore party about ten minutes ago?" Flores said.

Goren shook his head as he thought about it. "Well, you wouldn't be making me guess if it was somebody that made sense, so…I dunno, Ensign Kryczyk?"

Flores pointed at him. "Yes! And _No!_"

The response woke Goren up a little more. It also confused the hell out of him. "Wait…_what?_"

Flores composed herself a little, then said, "Ten minutes ago, someone or some_thing _that looks exactly like Ensign Mira Kryczyk walked into the camp perimeter, naked as a jaybird and without a mark on her! Did you hear me, Ben? Someone we were told was _stabbed through the heart_ is now sitting on Belle's cot in my tent listening to Lt. Girardi talk her ears off!"

At this, Goren forced himself all the way up into a sitting position on the edge of the cot. "And we know Girardi wasn't simply mistaken because…?"

Flores sat on the cot next to him and took out her flashlight. "Because I shined this in her eyes and there was no reaction! None!"

"So?"

"_So_, that can't happen unless she can't see the light, but she's _not _blind! She could see well enough to walk, to follow my finger, to mimic my smile…"

"Okay, I got it! She can see but her eyes act like she can't. So you're saying there's no rational explanation for that?"

"I'm not done! There's also her heartbeat."

"What's wrong with her heartbeat?"

"It doesn't _sound_ like a heartbeat!"

"You mean it doesn't sound like a _human_ heartbeat?"

"No, I mean it sounds like what someone _assumes_ a heartbeat sounds like, like someone beating a bass drum underwater!"

Goren thought about that for a second. "You can actually tell the difference between a heartbeat and the sound of someone banging a drum underwater?"

Exasperated, Flores pulled Goren's head close and screamed in his ear, "Wake UP, Ben!! I'm not here just to hear myself talk!"

"All right already!" Goren said. "I'm up! Okay…so what do the non-reactive eyes and the drumbeat heart tell us?"

"That whatever it is in my tent wants us to _think_ it's Mira Kryczyk, so it made itself look enough like her that it would fool anyone who only gave it a passing glance. The eyes didn't react because they're just _decorations_. It has eyes because it knows _she_ had eyes, but it doesn't need them to see! And the heartbeat is what it expects her heart to sound like if it were functioning! The whole thing is just one big disguise!"

"Okay, well, why stop at a disguise that would only fool a passing observer? Why not go for broke and make itself a perfect replica?"

"Because it _couldn't_ if all it had for reference was Kryczyk's corpse! Don't you see? Girardi was right! Whatever was in the cave killed Kryczyk, then it took her body, examined it, and then made a replica based on what it found out about her, but the replica couldn't be perfect without a functioning body to observe! This is its best guess!"

Goren thought about that for a moment. "I don't suppose it occurred to you to just ask Kryczyk what happened?"

"I would, but it seems that she isn't speaking anymore. She's physically capable. I just don't think she knows how."

"What does Girardi think?"

"I haven't told her yet. It could be bad for her whether I'm right or wrong."

"Well, how about running a tri-corder over her and seeing what you can see?"

Flores got up and started to pace. "I thought of that, but thanks to my orders all our tri-corders are now safely packed away and ready for transit! I couldn't get to one in a hurry."

"Okay, so what do you want to do?"

"Fortunately, we had to leave some instruments out so we can monitor Belle and Sgt. Rice. I took some blood samples. Connie is testing them now."

"That should get you some answers soon."

"I don't know. It took me three tries to get the first sample. The first two times it was like the needle never touched her skin, but I _know_ I inserted it deep enough…"

Just then her radio sounded. "Price to Flores."

"This is Flores. Go."

"You better get over here, Wendy."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"It's those samples you took from Kryczyk."

"What about them?"

A pause. "They're not _blood._"

* * *

Connie Price was pacing back and forth by the instrument table when Flores and Goren arrived at the field lab tent half-a-minute later. When she saw them she went to the microscope on the table and beckoned them over. "Come take a look at this." She set up a slide and explained as Flores bent to look through the scope. "That's an untouched quantity of one of the samples."

Flores examined it quickly, but thoroughly. "It looks like blood," she said when she was done. She didn't sound convinced.

Price nodded and set up a new slide. "This is part of a sample that I put through the standard battery of tests."

Flores looked through the scope again. "Damn," she muttered.

"What's wrong?" Goren said.

"It looks exactly the same."

"Wait…so it looks like blood? I don't see…"

Flores stood and turned to him. "Y'know, I keep forgetting that if it wasn't built in a drydock you can't figure it out. It doesn't just 'look like blood.' This tested sample looks _exactly_ like the untested sample, which should be impossible if the tests were done correctly."

"I triple-checked everything I did!" Price said defensively.

"I don't doubt you, Connie. I believe you did everything right."

"The blood just didn't react," Goren said.

"Any more than the eyes reacted," Flores said, "or maybe the reactions are too small for these instruments and our eyes to pick up, and whatever this stuff is simply resumes its disguise more rapidly than we can sense." Now she began to pace.

"Could somebody _please_ tell me what's going on?" Price begged.

"Wendy thinks that Ensign Kryczyk is some kind of changeling," Goren said.

Flores wheeled on him. "Could we _not_ start bringing fairy-tale terms into this?"

"Well, what terms would you prefer? Shape-shifter? Metamorph? Transformer? The point is it's a life-form that can change its appearance at will, apparently down to the cellular level, _and it's in our camp!_"

"L-let's try to stay calm," Price said. "Okay…we have an alien in the camp that can assume any shape. What do we do about it?"

"Whaddya mean, 'What do we do'?" Goren said. "Obviously, we find a way to contain or destroy it before it does any damage!"

"But isn't part of our mission out here to seek out new life?" She turned to Flores. "This life sought _us_ out. Shouldn't we at least attempt to communicate with it?"

"Communicate, hell!" Goren turned to Flores. "Our primary mission is to seek out _humanoid_ life and its origins! You said it yourself, Wendy. Whatever it is that's in your tent, it _ain't_ humanoid!"

"Does that automatically mean we should destroy it?" Price asked him. "Attack it just because it isn't like us?"

"No, we attack it because _it_ attacked Isabel, Rice and our only way off this rock!" Goren shot back.

"We don't know everything that went on in that cave." She turned back to Flores. "No matter what happened, Isabel would want to try and communicate with it."

Goren turned away in disgust, muttering, "Yeah, that would be brilliant, because we all know the Boss's track record when it comes to communicating with aliens…" He stared at the opening to the tent for a few seconds before he realized that neither of the women had a response. He turned back to find Flores looking at him as if he'd physically struck her, and Price eyeing Flores warily. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

It took another moment for Flores to come to her senses. She went back to the microscope, deciding to ignore the comments for the moment. "I don't want to do anything until I'm _sure_ of what we're dealing with," she said as she started adjusting the focus on the instrument. "No disguise is perfect. Even if that replica had come in walking and talking exactly like Kryczyk, with a physiognomy that reacted exactly the way hers would have, there would have to be a point where the illusion breaks down." She kept magnifying the image of the blood, from cellular to molecular to atomic and beyond. "That point is probably real small, probably where the whole universe starts to get grainy, but it's…" She was speechless for a moment as she stopped adjusting the focus. "There," she finished with a lopsided grin. "Found you…"

* * *

As she made her discovery, the being who'd taken Mira Kryczyk's form suddenly looked toward the entrance to the tent. Up to that point it had simply been watching the Invader sitting with it closely as it vibrated the air incessantly. The technique seemed to be an interesting yet highly inefficient method of communication the Invaders utilized. The being had been paying attention, watching closely to see how the Invader used its body to create the vibrations, as well as studying its other mannerisms and reflexes, with the intent of learning how to better infiltrate Invader settlements in future. It's observations were interrupted by a _real_ communication that came over the link it shared with others of its kind. The pieces of itself that had been taken by the other Invader had been discovered in their true form.

The time for study was over. The message the being sent back over the link was succinct.

Flores was about to tell her colleagues what she had discovered when the sample on the slide changed into clear water and rushed onto the table. At that same moment the other samples exploded from their vials and rushed to the table as well. The streams merged into a thick bubble, which in turn changed shape and color until it resembled one of the large, stinging species of flying insect that the team had catalogued since coming to Ceres Two. It buzzed loudly as it hovered in the air, circling the table a few times before lunging right at Flores.

In Flores's tent, Lt. Girardi rose from the cot when she heard a scream from another part of the camp. She went over to the tent opening. "I wonder what's happening…" she said. Before she could find out, she felt Mira grab her wrist. Her friend had a grip of iron. "What are you doing?" Girardi asked.

The being just stared for a moment. It had come to a decision. It and its allies would kill all the Invaders except this one. For some reason, it had seemed willing to be kind. Its reward would be to be kept alive for further study.

Girardi watched as Mira worked her mouth and tongue, as if trying to figure out exactly how to make them do what she wanted. After a moment, she finally managed to say two words:

"Le-e-ett's…go-o-o…"

The voice didn't sound like Mira, didn't sound human…didn't sound _alive_.

Girardi's scream could be heard throughout the camp.


	4. Segment Three

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE HEIRS OF PROTEUS

By Darrin Colbourne

* * *

Flores dove just before the insect reached her. Undeterred, the bug swung around and lunged at Price. She dodged as well, squealing as she tried to cover her head. Goren was already moving before the bug lunged at him. He was keeping his back to the tent wall, hugging the perimeter while he looked around frantically for something to use as a swatter.

That's when they heard Girardi's and other screams coming from the rest of the camp. "That's gotta be Kryczyk making her move!" Goren said just before _he_ had to dodge the bug's attack.

Flores kept her eyes on the bug as she fished around for her radio. When she had it: "Flores to all Landers! Converge on the campground!" She ducked as the bug came at her again. "I need you to contain Ensign Kryczyk! Do whatever you have to do!"

Tupolev's voice came back instantly. "This is Tupolev! We're already moving! Kryczyk's not the only problem!"

"He's _so _right!" Goren said as the bug came after him again. This time it kept hounding him until it had a clear shot at his shoulder. He screamed as the thing plunged its stinger into him from behind, then he fell as the stinger broke off and let the bug fly free.

"Ben!" Flores called out.

"He'll be all right, won't he?" Price said as she watched the bug grow a new stinger. "I mean, it's disguised as a poisonous insect, but its sting can't actually _be_ poisonous…can it?"

Flores was still watching Goren. "It can if the part it left in him decides to _become_ poison and acts accordingly," she said. As she said it, Goren began to groan as something from the sting began to affect him.

The bug attacked Flores while she was distracted. She barely managed to dodge it and swat it ineffectually with her arm. Price tried to use the distraction to help Goren, but as she ran to him the bug launched itself after her. She spotted it when it was halfway across the table and froze, unsure of whether she would make it or not.

Just when it looked as if it had her, the back of a folding chair screamed down from above and crushed the insect between itself and the lab table. Both women looked to see Goren holding the chair's legs. He was panting with the effort and sweating, but he had a satisfied look on his face as he spied the bug's remains splattered across the tabletop. "Next time…pick a…tougher disguise…" he huffed.

As if to mock him, the bug's remains converted back to water, flowed down to the floor and reformed from the puddle that formed there. "Oh, come _on!_" Flores groaned as it rose and prepared to attack again. It leveled off above their heads, seemed to take a second to pick a target, then zeroed in on Goren.

It only managed to advance a few centimeters before two flashes of light accompanied by two distant thundercracks blasted it into a shower of water droplets.

The officers turned to see a Lander standing in the opening to the tent, Childress pistol drawn and barrel glowing. "We better get out of here," he said. "I don't know how long that will hold it."

Flores just stared for a second, then turned to the others. Whatever strength Goren had was fading. Price was holding him up. "Get him to the shuttle!" Flores said. "Get that stinger out of him and get the poison out of his arm, however you can!" She followed the Lander out of the tent at a run.

"Right," Price muttered. She started to help Goren to the exit, searching for the stinger as she went. She reached for it when she spotted it…then recoiled as it liquefied and dropped to the ground, transformed into a tiny worm and made its way to where the other drops of the bug had fallen.

Price got a strong grip on Goren and double-timed it out of the tent.

* * *

There was chaos in the main part of the camp. Flores could hardly believe her eyes. A pair of six-legged wolves were chasing people around the campground, while a colorful bird dove down on random targets and clawed at them. "What the hell's going on?" Flores asked the Lander - "Mehti" it said on his collar. "Where's Tupolev?"

"I don't see him," Mehti said. "He had me double-time it back here and find you, but after that…" He screamed as a jolt of pain at his ankle interrupted him.

Dumbfounded, Flores watched him fall, then spotted the camouflaged snake as it withdrew from Mehti's leg. It spotted her at the same time, reared up and hissed as it prepared to strike. With reflexes faster than she'd ever seen, Mehti grabbed the snake's head as it lunged at her and held it fast. The serpent hissed and writhed in protest, then Mehti screamed again as it bent its neck and bit his knuckle.

"My weapon…" he groaned as he handed Flores the Childress with his free hand. She only hesitated for moment, then took careful aim and blasted the body of the snake until the part Mehti wasn't holding was nothing but a wet patch on the ground. The head turned into water then and flowed out of Mehti's grip.

Flores stared at it in fascination, then crouched down to check Mehti's wounds, asking, "Do you know where Tupolev was going?"

Mehti groaned, then said, "…said…he would take care of Kryczyk himself…"

Flores glanced in the direction of her tent, then turned back to Mehti. "Okay, I don't want to leave you like this. Do you have any kind of first aid kit on you?"

Mehti nodded, then used his good hand to reach into a pocket and pull out a small case. Flores took it and opened it. Glancing quickly through the contents, she found a tourniquet and a small ampoule of anti-venom. Since she only had the one, she tied the tourniquet around the calf above the leg bite. As she loaded the anti-venom into a small mechanical syringe, she said, "I'll be honest with you. This stuff may not work…"

"Beggars…can't be choosers, right?" Mehti groaned back.

Flores smiled at him, then injected the anti-venom near his thumb and ankle. When she was done she handed back the aid kit and took the Childress. "I have to go," she said as she stood, "but I'll try to send someone to do more for you as soon as I can." Mehti nodded. Flores nodded back, then turned and headed for her tent at a run. She was only halfway there when the colorful bird swooped down on her. She managed to protect her head, but felt the bird's claws scratching at her arms. It flew off after she tried to strong arm it, giving her enough room to fire three Childress shots at it. She missed, but the bird decided to go after a less well protected target.

Flores continued on to her tent and found it open and empty. Then she checked the surrounding area and found someone laying on the ground a few yards away. When she rushed over she saw that it was Tupolev. He was groaning in pain and had a large puncture wound in his midsection. "Did Kryczyk do this?"

Tupolev groaned and nodded. "She took Lt. Girardi. They're headed for the transport."

Flores glanced in that direction and cursed, then turned back to Tupolev. All she could do for him was state the obvious. "Try and keep pressure on the wound. I'll get someone to look at you as soon as I can." With that she took off for the landing zone.

* * *

The being known as Kryczyk was almost at the transport. Its Invader prisoner had tried to struggle out of its grip the whole way, but constant reinforcement kept its hand strong and unyielding. As she struggled, the Invader continued to vibrate the air incessantly. "Let me go! Dammit, Mira! What are you doing?? You let me go right now! That's an order!!"

The being glanced at her, still unable to decipher what she was saying, but it was apparent that the Invader didn't appreciate the honor bestowed upon her. No matter. She would be a useful specimen, willing or unwilling. In the meantime, the being sensed that it was getting closer to its primary targets. It saw them when it reached the large, inorganic construct that it recognized immediately as the object that carried them off. The First Invaders were inside, badly wounded and incapacitated. Making sure they were dead was its primary objective.

With a grim resolve, it took a step onto the loading ramp…

* * *

Flores arrived in time to see Kryczyk walking into the transport. "Get out of there!" she called out.

Kryczyk and Girardi turned at the sound. There was no expression on Kryczyk's face. Girardi looked relieved, then worried. "Flores, be careful!" Girardi called out. "I don't think it's really Mira!"

Flores fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Yeah," she called back, "we're already _past_ that chapter, Girardi!" She leveled her weapon at Kryczyk. "I said, 'get out of there'!"

Flores and Kryczyk traded stares for several seconds, then Kryczyk put on a smile and resumed her march up the ramp, dragging Girardi behind her. Flores took careful aim and fired three times. Two of the shots went through Kryczyk's midsection, while the third went through her head. She stopped walking and staggered a little, but didn't fall. Instead she stood straight up, turned to face Flores and let go of Girardi. As Girardi backed away, she watched in horror as all of the wounds melted into colored water and begin to seal themselves.

When she was fully intact, Kryczyk stared Flores down again. This time she tried to think of a response to what Flores had said. As she remembered all the things Girardi had been saying, she chose a phrase that seemed appropriate. After a couple of false starts, she breathed, "Do-o-on't yoou…eever…ssscare me like thaat again…beeetch…"

The horrific tone of voice and the turn of phrase were enough to stun Flores so much that she was unprepared when Kryczyk's arm extended toward her like a whip and slashed at her right leg! As Flores started to go down Kryczyk's other arm extended and went through her right shoulder like a spear! Then both Flores and Girardi looked on in awe as Kryczyk's whole form reverted to water, arced out of her borrowed shirt like a geyser and reformed into Kryczyk with Flores at her feet. Flores tried to raise the weapon again, but Kryczyk knocked it out of her hand, then grabbed Flores by the throat and raised her off the ground. With another smile, Kryczyk tossed Flores toward the transport. She landed with a grunt of pain in the grass at the bottom of the loading ramp.

Girardi looked on wide-eyed as Kryczyk's nude form approached the loading ramp. After a second, she rushed into the transport, searched around, then came back out brandishing Rice's Childress. She took aim and said, "Stop, Mira! I mean it!" When Kryczyk didn't respond Girardi fired, then kept firing as the doppelganger continued her approach.

Flores lay on the ground clutching her wounds and watching the whole scene in despair. The pistol wouldn't stop Kryczyk. Unlike the bug, there was too much of the alien lifeform in her mass to be affected by a few particle blasts. A bigger weapon might destroy her, but all the big weapons were aboard…

Just as she thought that, she heard it. "Away Team, this is _Enterprise_. We're reading a distress signal. Do you require assistance, over?"

Flores looked at her pants pocket in utter shock. "No way…" she said with a grin, then she pulled out the radio and keyed the mike. "_Enterprise_, this is Flores! You're damned right we require assistance!"

The female voice at the other end of the connection was annoyingly calm. "Roger that, Lieutenant. We will be in orbit in two minutes. Please state the nature of the emergency, over."

"We're under attack by a hostile native life-form!" Flores said as she looked at Kryczyk. The doppelganger had halted her advance and was watching Flores curiously. "We need…" Flores thought about it for a second as she watched Kryczyk. "We need…" What was the phrase? "We need fire support!"

"Roger that, Lieutenant. What kind of fire support do you need?"

Flores thought about it, then glanced at Girardi, who still had Kryczyk in her sights. "What do I tell them?"

Girardi glanced at her, then said, "Well…what do you want to hit?"

"The mountain they came from."

"Tell them we need a particle bombardment. We'll mark the target."

"How??"

"The mountain is visible from here, right? I'll mark it."

"Lieutenant Flores," _Enterprise_ said, "how do you read?"

Flores had no choice but to trust Girardi. "Loud and clear, _Enterprise_! We need a particle bombardment! We'll mark the target!"

A pause, then: "Roger that. _Enterprise_ is now one minute out and coming in hot with guns. Standby to mark the target on our signal and be sure the target area is clear of friendlies. Over and out!"

Flores put the radio away and glared at Kryczyk. "If you don't leave," she said, "I'll kill them all." After a moment. "If there's anything left of the real Kryczyk in you, then you can understand what I'm saying. I can stop the ship from firing, but if you don't get out of our camp right now, I'll let it kill your whole family."

They stared at each other for the longest time, then Girardi said, "I don't think she understands."

Flores checked her watch, then looked back at Kryczyk. "It doesn't matter," she said. "We just have to keep her out of the transport and concentrating on us until…"

As she spoke, Kryczyk resumed her advance until she got to the ramp. Girardi kept the pistol on her but didn't fire. Kryczyk simply pushed her out of the way as she stepped on and went into the transport. She stopped inside when she was standing between Rice and Montoya. Turning to the Science Officer first, she let her right arm change into a jointed blade.

Just then: "_Enterprise_ to Flores! Mark the target now, now, now!"

Without another word Girardi stood, switched her Childress to "Full Auto", found the mountain, aimed and fired. A six-second stream of high-energy particles traveled the distance at near the speed of light and bloomed as it impacted on the mountainside.

* * *

"Target!" The Sensor Officer said as _Enterprise_ pulled into orbit. "We've got a particle bloom on a mountain about 26 klicks Southwest of the campsite!"

"Recommend a sustained burst from Mount One," the Fire Control Officer said. _Enterprise_'s two forward particle cannons were already deployed. Mount One, the portside cannon, was being maneuvered into position.

"Away Team reports all friendlies clear of the target area," the Communicator said.

"Fire," Captain Christopher Pike said from the center chair.

* * *

Girardi and Flores watched as the night sky above the mountain began to glow bright white, then had to shield their eyes as what appeared to be a thousand lightning bolts struck down and started blasting the mountain to pieces. Girardi recognized the light show as the effects of _Enterprise_'s particle blasts tearing through the atmosphere. Flores just thought it was frightening…and cool as hell.

Kryczyk screamed, and kept on screaming as explosive energy disintegrated the mountain. To Girardi and Flores the scream sounded inhuman, but the screaming Kryczyk was hearing, the screams coming over the link from brethren dying in heat and pain, was like nothing she could ever imagine. She fell to her knees, overwhelmed by it all.

Girardi helped Flores to her feet, then the two women went into the transport and found Kryczyk suffering. "Cease fire, _Enterprise_," Flores radioed. The bombardment ended a second later.

Kryczyk continued to moan for a moment longer and stayed on her knees for almost another minute. Then she stood and turned to face Girardi and Flores. The women could see that the doppelganger had discovered a new expression: enraged.

Kryczyk walked past them and out of the transport. She stopped at the bottom of the loading ramp and looked toward the camp. She was waiting for something. A minute later, two six-legged wolves, a colorful bird, the snake that bit Mehti and the bug that attacked Flores and the others in the lab gathered around her. They reverted to water and formed a puddle around her feet as she continued to look toward camp. Nothing happened for a few seconds after that, then she looked back into the transport. Her eyes locked onto Flores.

She spoke as clearly as she could manage. "HHiif you…don't leave…I'll kill…them all…" With that said, the being disguised as Kryczyk reverted to water and collapsed into the puddle, then the whole body of water transformed into a large flying mammal, which took off with a gust of wind and flew away in the direction of the mountain.

Girardi and Flores were too stunned to say anything. Flores recovered first. "Well," she said with a smirk, "I guess we've overstayed our welcome."

The women chuckled as Girardi helped Flores to one of the retractable chairs in the cargo hold and sat her down. The ship called as Girardi left to find some bandages. "_Enterprise_ to Flores. Report your status, over."

Flores keyed her radio. "Flores to _Enterprise_. Several members of the Away Team are critically wounded, our transport is damaged and our position is compromised. We need medical teams and Lander reinforcements, ASAP. Flores out." She turned off the radio and let it drop to the deck as she leaned back and closed her eyes. There was nothing else she could do but rest and wait.

* * *

When her eyes opened again, she found herself lying on her back on a stretcher, looking up at the face of Dr. Phillip Boyce. "There you are," he said with a smile. "For a minute there I thought I had lost my favorite exobiologist."

Flores grinned back. "Don't want to break in a new one, huh?" She said weakly.

"Too much work," he said. "Better to just keep patching up the one I've got."

Flores suddenly got serious. "Belle…and Sgt. Rice…they're…"

Boyce put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. "They're already aboard _Enterprise_. We sent them back as soon as we found them."

"And Ben…Connie was supposed to bring him to the shuttle…"

"They never made it. Connie said they got about halfway when they were attacked by some kind of bug. They were trying to avoid it, but they said it stopped attacking about the time we fired on that mountain…"

Flores closed her eyes again. "A bunch of people were attacked…"

"All the critically wounded are either in Sick Bay or on the way. We're about done treating everyone else down here. Fortunately, we haven't lost anybody yet."

"We did lose someone…Ensign Kryczyk was lost in the first attack."

Boyce let that sink in. "I'll let the captain know."

Just then someone else's voice intruded. "Is she awake, Doc?" Flores opened her eyes. It was Major Wayne Song.

"I'm up," Flores said.

Song looked down at her. He looked like he was wearing a helmet, and Flores realized he was in full battle dress. "Hey," he said. "I brought about half my company down and I was wondering if you could tell me what we're supposed to be looking for."

Flores smiled. "Remember when you were training us how to use weapons," she said, "and I asked you what we should do if we ever ran into a land jellyfish or something?"

Song smirked. "Yeah, I remember."

"Guess what we ran into tonight…"

* * *

Long after the last transport had departed, there was a rumbling in the middle of the campsite. No humans had remained to see the giant worm break through the ground with a spray of dirt and rock. Seconds after it emerged, the worm turned into water and flowed along the grass, then the puddle reformed into several humanoid shapes. This time none of the disguises were as elaborate as the first being's had been. They all had four limbs and heads that had the vague appearances of eyes, noses and mouths, but no hair, no musculature and nothing to mark gender. They were simple mannequins, unremarkable except for the fact that they moved at will.

"These are interesting forms," one said in its language. It was using the manner of speech of the Invaders. "Their method of communication is crude, but these limbs appear to be very useful."

"They must use them to build the structures we saw," another said. "They did not live in natural habitats, like other animals."

"Should we attempt to pursue them again?" Yet another asked.

"No," one more said, "not until we've learned how to build the same things ourselves. From now on, if we are to fight them in their habitats we must learn to fight their way, as we have done with all the aggressive species on this world."

"It is decided," the last one said, and in unison they communicated this decision through the great link to their brethren that had survived the attack of the Invaders, the isolated, solid beings that apparently commanded the skies and lightning as easily as gods.

Very well. Someday, to destroy the Invaders, they would become gods as well.


	5. Segment Four

STAR TREK:

THE HEIRS OF PROTEUS

By Darrin Colbourne

* * *

Wendy Flores held the small, reinforced vial up for Isabel Montoya to see. "Doctor Boyce extracted this from Ben and Private Mehti." she said. "It only _looks_ like clear water. It's actually filled nearly drop for drop with micro-organisms so complex that they can communicate with each other, work together, and even change color. It's a colony of symbiotic life-forms, like a man-o-war, only much smarter and more versatile."

Montoya sat up - carefully - to get a better look. She was recovering well enough from her wounds for Doctor Boyce to release her from Sick Bay, but it would be a while before she would be at a hundred percent, so she was on light duty and spending most of her days in her quarters in bed. "And you think that's how they managed to take so many different shapes?"

Flores nodded. "I'm sure of it. The water is just their living and working space. It's how they get around, but other, much bigger animals _drink_ water, so to avoid ending up in something's stomach, they found a way to work together to turn themselves into anything _but_ water. There are trillions of them in it. Dump enough of them together and they can act as the cells for any kind of animal they wish, like a bug, a bird, a big dog…"

"…or a humanoid shuttle pilot." Montoya finished. She looked more closely at the vial. "Didn't you tell me it broke out of the vials you put the shape-shifter's blood in?"

Flores smiled and tapped on the vial with a finger. "Commander Adams made this for me. The clear plastic this is made of is as strong as steel, and this cap _is_ steel, and the whole thing is air- and water-tight. If they want to get out of here they have to either learn how to turn into a diamond or ask me nicely."

"Or, they could just be fruitful and keep multiplying until there's too many for even that vial to contain them."

Flores's smile disappeared as she looked at the vial. "Oops…" she said, "forgot about that."

"You may end up having to destroy that sample after all."

"I'm not sure it can be destroyed. I mean, you can evaporate the water with heat, but even the heat of our handheld particle weapons wasn't enough to completely destroy the little beasts that attacked us, and they didn't even slow Faux Kryczyk down at all."

"Extreme heat isn't much better for micro-organisms than it is for water."

"Yeah, but most micro-organisms can't turn themselves into more robust animals that can take the heat. I suppose I could freeze it. That would at least render it inert…"

Just then the doorchime sounded. "Come in!" Montoya called out.

The door slid open to admit Captain Pike. "Evening, Commander, Lieutenant. Flores, would you give us a few minutes alone?"

Flores looked at him for a second, then sighed and turned back to Montoya and squeezed her hand. "I'm going to see what I can do about freezing this stuff. You take care of yourself, okay?"

Montoya smiled. "I will, and thank you for showing that to me."

Flores shrugged. "Everybody else has seen it. Number One nearly had kittens when she found out I wanted to keep it." They chuckled at that, then Flores kissed Montoya's forehead, got up and started out of the room.

"How's the wing, Lieutenant?" Pike asked as she passed him.

Flores worked her right elbow a couple of times. "It's still a little stiff, but it's healing okay. I'll need some physical therapy to get it back to a normal range of motion. Gives me an excuse to spend more time in the gym."

Pike smiled and nodded. "Carry on."

"Yes, Sir." Flores said. She was out of the room a second later.

When they were alone, Pike sat in the chair that Flores had been sitting in by Montoya's bed. "I'm adding a Letter of Commendation to her file," he said. "There's also a service award that I think she should get. I'm going to add the application to our final report on the Ceres system. It'd be good to have her immediate superior's signature on it along with mine."

"I'd be happy to sign it," Montoya said. "From what I heard about the situation she deserves a promotion."

"I'd like to give her one," Pike said, "but unfortunately I don't have any room on the crew roster for another Lieutenant Commander right now, so the only way I could do it is if I promote or throw someone out of the ship."

Montoya recognized his tone all too well. "I'm surprised it didn't occur to you to throw _me _out," she said sarcastically.

Pike hesitated, then he got real close to her ear and hissed, "What makes you think it _didn't?_" He continued when he had her attention. "I even went so far as to ask Admiral Jellico about replacing you with Flores. You want to know what his reply was? It was, verbatim: 'Chris, I know you're having a rough time out there right now, but grow up, start acting like a _Captain_ and learn how to work with the people I assign you!'"

"Just say the word and I'll be more than happy to resign and solve both our problems!" Montoya shot back.

"If you _really_ wanted to leave you wouldn't need to wait for me to give the word, so until either you or Jellico has a change of heart, we're _stuck_ with each other!" With that Pike pulled away and settled back in the chair. "So I'll just have to be satisfied with adding a Letter of Reprimand to _your_ file for the time being."

Montoya was perplexed. "Reprimand?? For what? For almost getting stabbed to death?"

"Are you kidding? How about for putting yourself in a position to be almost stabbed to death? Or for putting _Flores _in a position where she had to clean up the mess you created?!"

"I didn't intend to cause any problems for Wendy…"

"Oh, really? Is that why you made her complicit in withholding information from your crew that they could have used when the stuff hit the fan?"

"You mean about _Independence_? What good would telling them about that have done?"

"You mean what good would telling your crew that their _home_ _base_ might be out of reach and out of contact for a significant amount of time have done?? Do I actually have to explain that to you? How are you that _dense_ and still allowed to call yourself a scientist??"

The hurt/pissed look on Montoya's face indicated that Pike might have gone one too far, but he knew they had to have this out, so he simply stopped and forced himself to calm down. When she saw the opening, Montoya said, "I thought it would be easier for them to continue working if they didn't know about the loss."

"Why," Pike said, "because it would have been easier for _you_? Get over yourself, Montoya. I didn't send you the information to make your job _harder_. I sent it because you and the others needed to know that your shipmates were lost, and that your own ship would be out of reach for at least a day while the bodies were recovered and the _Indy_ was scuttled. I think it's damned fortunate that you decided to share the information with Flores, and that she had the presence of mind to act accordingly. I wish you'd had the same presence of mind. Then maybe you wouldn't have been so eager to fly off and get your only means of interstellar transportation trashed."

The look on Montoya's face shifted over completely to "pissed." it was enough to make her force herself up to sitting position on the edge of the bed so she could look Pike in the eye. "If I'd had the hiking and spelunking equipment necessary to hike 26 kilometers and climb the mountain to the cave by myself I would have done it! Believe me, the last thing I wanted was for anyone to get hurt or for the shuttle to be trashed!"

"Well, here's a radical idea! How about you _wait_ until the ship is back in orbit before you try to get to the inaccessible mountain, so that you'd at least have adequate back-up in case something goes horribly wrong? Y'know, like it _usually_ does?"

Montoya shook her head. "Look…how many of your crew do you want me to kill? Honestly, give me a number! How many of these people do you want to end up like Ensign Kryczyk or the crew of the _Independence_ just because I had to send them to do things I could easily do myself or with a small group of dedicated researchers?"

"You want a number? _Zero_. Ideally, I'd like to return to port with the exact same complement I launched with, but there's no way I can guarantee that can happen, and neither can you. The only thing we can do is make sure our people know what they need to know to do their jobs while we make sure we don't take any unnecessary risks that will complicate matters…in other words, the _exact opposite _of what you did down on Ceres Two!"

Montoya opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything, so she turned away and stared at the bulkhead. After a beat she turned back and said, "Weren't you the one who told me I shouldn't second-guess my decisions?"

"I was," Pike said, then he tapped his rank patch and added, "but the big silver eagle on my shoulder says _I _get to second-guess them for you."

Montoya didn't have an answer for that either, so instead she lay back in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. "So we're stuck with each other?"

"Pretty much," Pike said, "but it doesn't have to be torture. I worked with one of your colleagues on the search. Janice Lester?"

Montoya smiled. "Ahhh, Janice. She leaves an interesting first impression, doesn't she?"

"She does indeed…and it's going to be that first impression that maybe helps out of our current situation." When she looked at him, he added, "When you get out of that bed, there are going to be some changes in how we do things around here."

Pike spent the next five minutes explaining his intentions, and then they spent the five minutes after that in calm discussion concerning them, each listening as much as talking. It was the closest they'd come to a successful working relationship since they left Earth.


End file.
